Home Alone
Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an 8-year-old boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. Kevin initially relishes being home alone, but soon has to contend with two burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. The film also features John Heard and Catherine O'Haraas Kevin's parents. Culkin was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy, and the film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Original Score, which was written by John Williams, and Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory". After its release, Home Alone became the highest-grossing live action comedy film of all time in the United States, and also held the record worldwide until it was overtaken by The Hangover Part II in 2011. For nearly three decades, the film was also the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time until it was surpassed by The Grinch in 2018.34 Despite the mixed critical reception upon its initial release, Home Alone has been hailed as a holiday classic among audiences, and is often ranked as one of the best Christmas films of all time.5678 Home Alone spawned a successful film franchise with four sequels, including the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which is the only ''Home Alone ''sequel to have the original cast reprising their roles. Plot The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Paris, gathering at Peter and Kate's home in a Chicago suburb on the night before their departure. Peter and Kate's youngest son, Kevin, is being the subject of ridicule by his older siblings. Later, Kevin accidentally ruins the family dinner and their flight tickets to Paris after a scuffle with his older brother Buzz, resulting in him getting sent to the attic of the house for punishment where he berates Kate and wishes that his family would disappear. During the night, heavy winds cause damage to the power lines, which causes a power outage and resets the alarm clocks, causing the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to get to the airport, Kevin is accidentally left behind. Kevin wakes to find the house empty and, thinking his wish has come true, is overjoyed with his newfound freedom. However, he soon becomes frightened by his next door neighbor, Old Man Marley, who is rumored to be a serial killer who murdered his own family; as well as the "Wet Bandits", Harry and Marv, a pair of burglars who have been breaking into other vacant houses in the neighborhood and have targeted the McCallisters' house. Kevin tricks them into thinking his family is home, forcing them to put their plans on hold. Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind, and upon arrival in Paris, the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked. Peter and the rest of the family stays in his brother's apartment in Paris while Kate manages to get a flight back to the United States, but only gets as far as Scranton, Pennsylvania. She attempts to book a flight to Chicago but again, everything is booked. Unable to accept this, Kate is overheard by Gus Polinski—the lead member of a traveling polka band who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago on their way to Milwaukee in a moving van, which she gratefully accepts. Meanwhile, Harry and Marv realize that Kevin is home alone, and on Christmas Eve, Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into his house that night. Kevin starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring his family back for Christmas. He goes to church and watches a choir perform, then meets Old Man Marley, who dispels the rumors about him. He points out his granddaughter in the choir, whom he never gets to meet as he and his son are estranged; Kevin suggests that he should reconcile with his son. Kevin returns home and rigs the house with booby traps to take on the burglars. Harry and Marv break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. While the duo pursues Kevin around the house, he calls the police and flees, luring them into a neighboring home which they previously broke into. Harry and Marv ambush him and prepares to get their revenge, but Marley sneaks in and knocks them with his shovel before they can harm Kevin. The police arrive and arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all the houses they broke into due to Marv's habit of flooding them. On Christmas Day, Kevin is disappointed to find that his family is still gone. He then hears Kate enter the house and call for him; they reconcile and are soon joined by the rest of the McCallisters, who waited in Paris until they could obtain a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's knocked-out gold tooth. Kevin then observes Marley reuniting with his son and his family. Marley notices Kevin, and the pair wave to each other. Buzz suddenly yells "Kevin, what did you do to my room?!" at which point Kevin runs off. Cast * Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister * Joe Pesci as Harry * Daniel Stern as Marv * John Heard as Peter McCallister * Roberts Blossom as Marley * Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister * Angela Goethals as Linnie McCallister * Devin Ratray as Buzz McCallister * Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank McCallister * Hillary Wolf as Megan McCallister * Larry Hankin as Officer Balzak * John Candy as Gus Polinski * Michael C. Maronna as Jeff McCallister * Kristin Minter as Heather McCallister * Daiana Campeanu as Sondra McCallister * Jedidiah Cohen as Rod McCallister * Kieran Culkin as Fuller McCallister * Senta Moses as Tracy McCallister * Anna Slotky as Brook McCallister * Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie McCallister